Gay cleric accuses church of giving in to bullies

Jeffrey John, the gay cleric forced to stand down from his appointment as suffragan bishop of Reading last year after a campaign of protest, used a sermon broadcast by the BBC yesterday to accuse the Church of England of failing to stand up to bullies.

Dr John, who received the consolation prize of dean of St Albans in the summer, was preacher at the service from the abbey.

He used the feast day of St Stephen, the first Christian martyr, to allude to the church's behaviour in its highly charged debate about the position of gay men in the ministry.

The abbey and the surrounding town are named after the early British Christian martyr, who was killed by the Romans.

Referring generally to bullying and citing the German pastor Martin Niemöller, who led German Christian opposition to the Nazis, Dr John said: "We know what's happening is wrong but we keep our heads down and hope someone else will do the martyr bit and face down the bullies with the truth."

Niemöller famously warned that if Christians did not stand up for other groups being persecuted, when the time came there would be no one left to stand up for them.

The reference to the Church of England came as Dr John recalled an anonymous school fellow from his childhood who was bullied and called a "poof" because he was weedy and effeminate: "He was beaten up, he got his lunch thrown away and he got called girls' names and he always sat on his own. I can hardly think of the misery that kid must have gone through."

The cleric said he had not participated in the bullying, but: "I never said or did a thing to help him because, of course, I was terrified that if I did they would suspect me too and I would get the same treatment. And of course that's how it works, in so many bad situations in the world - and yes, in the church too."

Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury and an old acquaintance, forced Dr John to stand down from the bishopric even though he had twice given his approval to the appointment, which had also been approved by the Queen.

The move followed protests from evangelicals, who threatened to withhold financial contributions if the appointment went through, and from bishops in developing countries.